Children of Color and Poverty and the Cultural and Linguistic Elements in Stories

Step 1: Activating

Choose one of the following sentences. Explain why you agree or disagree with the sentence:

• The concept of. race is a socially defined construct used as a way to fraudulently divide people into groups ranked as superior and inferior.
• Biologically there is only one race: Human Race
• The earliest definitions of racial groups in colonial times focused on dehumanizing two groups, "lndians" and "Africans" for the purpose of stealing of the land from the indigenous people and creating the "White/Black" divide to justify slavery
• 'Children of color are still disproportionately living in poverty. They are more likely to be members of low-income families who cannot afford health insurance or primary doctors.
• As adults we have choices about how do we understand and feel about this topic
• People tend to think of race, ethnicity, anri culture as being interchangeable aspects.

Step 2: Exploring

We will read and analyze the narrative, cultural and linguistic elements of these two multicultural stories:

A world full of Strangers

Down These Mean Streets by Piri

Talk about the main multicultural elements that are integrated into both stories. Use these questions as a guide:

1) What is the problem or concern that appears portrayed in the story?  What is the initial reaction of the author when he/she realize that that aspect of his/her life seems to be a problem in the eyes of others?

2) What do you notice about the use of "language" in the story? Does the author use "trans language"? What does the author want to convey by using different languages throughout the story?

3) What can you tell about the author's feelings throughout the story?

4) Why is it important to teach multicultural literacy in school?

5) How does the counter-narrative humanize the characters of a story? How can this help us to fight racism and power?